CONSTRUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A PYRANOMETER USING LOCALLY AVAILABLE MATERIALS FOR GLOBAL SOLAR RADIATION MEASUREMENT

The high cost and maintenance of imported equipment for solar radiation measurement makes the equipment a scarce commodity in Meteorological and Research Centers in Nigeria and other Developing Countries in the world. In order to alleviate this problem, a pyranometer for global solar radiation measurement was therefore developed locally at Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. The pyranometer consists of Photodiode, electrical wires, transparent plastic material and a digital multimeter. The calibration of the constructed pyranometer was done on a clear sky day, Thursday 18 th August, 2011. The calibration constant for